Bristol-Myers Squibb' post-Plavix 2013 EPS forecast to drop to $1.95, but still exceeds expectations; promising R&D pipeline

At an investment community meeting yesterday, US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb provided a business overview highlighting its pipeline and an earnings forecast for 2013 which exceeded analysts' consensus forecasts by as much as 13%. The company said that it expects to generate minimum non-GAAP earnings per share of $ 1.95 in 2013, the first full year after losing US patent exclusivity for its blood thinning drug Plavix (clopidogrel, co-marketed with French drug major Sanofi-Aventis, the drug's originator) in 2012.

In 2013, analysts were expecting B-MS to report earnings of $1.88 a share, on average, according to a survey by Bloomberg. The drugmaker said it plans to have 'sustained growth' starting in 2014. The company projects 2010 adjusted earnings of $2.15 a share to $2.25 a share.

The guidance excludes any impact from US health care reforms and assumes strong revenue trends for key products such as Plavix, which generated $7.4 billion sales last year, Abilify (aripiprazole), the $3 billion in annual revenue from which face generic competition by 2016, and the group's HIV portfolio.